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Nova Godói
Nova Godói is a remote town deep in the jungles of Brazil, on the shores of a volcanic crater lake in the mountains. Accessible only by aircraft or boat via the Rio Itajaí do Sul, it has been shrouded in rumor and superstition due to the secretive insular nature of its residents. History In the late seventeenth century, a group of Franciscan missionaries built a monastery on an island in the middle of the lake. The local indigenous Aweikoma Indians, who the missionaries attempted to convert, soon revolted and massacred the monks, and the Portuguese military intervened, turning the monastery into a garrison and either killing or driving off the Aweikoma. After removing the Aweikoma, the military left the fortress and it eventually became a tobacco plantation before it was again abandoned in the 1930s. It lay vacant until the arrival of refugees from Germany following World War II, who constructed a Bavarian waterfront village on the shore of the lake and promptly retreated into it, keeping completely to themselves behind the town's guardhouse and surrounding rock wall. The Covenant The German refugees were, in fact, a group of Nazis and sympathizers known as Der Bund, or "the Covenant," who had fled Europe to Nova Godoi to continue their work in eugenics and genetic manipulation in twins in an effort to create a breed of superhuman. They established a base of operations in the ancient fortress and built the lakeshore village. Among their number were András Ferenc Esterházy and his wife, Leni Faust Schmid, who would later give birth to Judson and twins Helen and Emma. Under the Covenant, Nova Godoi was populated by a small standing military force and generations of iterations of the genetically engineered twins from their ongoing experiments. The twins were kept separated: the superior twins lived in the village, educated, physically trained and nurtured, while the "bad twins" were kept in seclusion underground in desolate conditions, raised for menial unskilled labor and as organ repositories for their siblings. The research in Nova Godoi continued unabated until it reached its pinnacle with the twin sons of Helen Esterhazy and Aloysius Pendergast: Alban Lorimer and his brother, known only as "Forty-Seven" (the "defectives" were not given names in Covenant society). The Battle of Nova Godoi: Fall of the Covenant Background After orchestrating Helen's death, the Covenant conducted a "beta test" of Alban's skills in New York, during which Forty-Seven managed to escape. He made his way to their father, who had been kept in the dark as to their very existence, and told him of Nova Godoi and the Covenant, but was soon recaptured by the Covenant and returned to Brazil. The Siege Pendergast gained access to the town by posing as a naturalist searching for a rare species of butterfly, but after a single day's reconnaissance was captured by Covenant guards. He was able to escape his would-be executioners, and with the assistance of the military police of the nearby town of Alsdorf, launched a three-pronged assault on the island fortress. The attack was doomed–over 80% of the invading force was decimated in an ambush at the docks, and only five soldiers made it into the fortress. Though they managed to kill over two dozen Nazi soldiers, Pendergast alone escaped, fleeing to the shore with Alban in pursuit. Revolution The chase ended near the defectives' camp, as Pendergast gave himself up. In front of an audience of the defective twins as well as the remaining soldiers and the superior Twins Brigade, Alban prepared to execute his father when he was interrupted by Tristram, who along with Pendergast stirred up a revolt that saw most of the Twins Brigade join their defective siblings and attack the Nazi soldiers. Alban fled the scene, and with the Nazis in full retreat, Pendergast turned his attention back to the fortress, where the Covenant scientists, laboratories, and leader still remained. Returning to the island, Pendergast detonated an ammunition dump deep in the bowels of the fortress. While the explosion alone was not enough to bring down the fortress, it was enough to pierce the the rock down into the magma chamber, setting off a volcanic blast that destroyed the Nazi stronghold. The scientists and remaining soldiers fled to the shores of the crater lake, where they surrendered to the waiting Twins Brigade, while the Covenant leader, Wulf Konrad Fischer, surprised Pendergast and managed to shoot him in the arm before their standoff was interrupted by Alban. Fischer berated Alban, chastising the young twin for his failure to kill his father. Alban, seemingly desperate for Fischer's approval, raised his gun and aimed it at Pendergast before turning and shooting Fischer in the gut. He returned the Covenant leader's accusations of failure, claiming the master plan was fundamentally flawed, and sent his last bullet into Fischer's head. Knowing Pendergast would not shoot him–and saying as much to the flustered agent–Alban calmly turned and disappeared into the Brazilian forest. Notable Characters Born in Nova Godói * Judson Esterhazy * Helen Esterhazy Pendergast * Alban Pendergast * Tristram Pendergast